Like two schoolboys ordered to stay after class, Donald Carstens and Athanasios Katsoulis sat fidgeting in a Baltimore courtroom yesterday, watching the clock and waiting until they could go home.They were lectured, scolded about their behavior and ordered to remain in a paneled, windowless circuit courtroom until 5 p.m. after Judge Edward J. Angeletti held them in contempt as part of a crackdown on those who fail to appear for jury duty.After a morning of hearing excuses, Angeletti ordered Carstens and Katsoulis to stay for the day, fined them $100 and ordered them to pay $115 in court costs.

People in Maryland are being called and told to pay a fine over the phone for missing jury duty. It's a scam. The Maryland Judiciary on Friday issued a warning about calls that have surfaced in Prince George's County, where someone claiming to work for a circuit court has called residents saying they have been charged with contempt for not reporting to jury duty. The caller refers to a judge by name and demands payment of a fine over the phone using a pre-paid credit card.

This is a comment on problems with a city bureaucracy other than faulty water bills. On Feb. 14-16, I served as a juror on a city murder trial. About two weeks later I received a summons for duty on April 19th. I promptly filled in the new "efficient" form claiming the "served within a year" dispensation and mailed it at the post office. On March 24, I received a postcard claiming that I hadn't completed my questionnaire and threatening a fine $1,000 and/or imprisonment. This card placed me in a Catch-22 situation.

When I first moved to Maryland seven years ago, I was excited to leave Pennsylvania and become a permanent resident of this beautiful state, especially moving to the top of the Chesapeake Bay and residing on the water in Havre de Grace. Shortly after that our youngest daughter transferred during her freshman year from West Chester University, in Pennsylvania, to Towson University. We did everything by the book, registered our cars, filed our taxes, surrendered our Pennsylvania licenses and received Maryland licenses.

While it is a serious problem that 144,442 would-be voters who registered via the MVA were not added to the voter rolls ( "Nearly 25 percent of MVA voter registrations fail," Feb. 21) it also plays a huge role in explaining why the same voters are called every nine months for jury duty in Baltimore City. If these "dropped" voters could be added, it would greatly increase the jury pool and jurors would be more willing to serve when they know that everyone is participating and not just the same few. Kitty Deimel, Hampden

It was Jury Duty: Celebrity Edition in Baltimore Circuit Court on Tuesday. Both Michael Phelps and Duff Goldman had their numbers picked for the jury pool at the downtown courthouse. Phelps' presence created such a buzz that other prospective jurors and employees throughout the courthouse started streaming in to take his picture, according to Maj. Sam Cogen of the sheriff's office. “People were using their cell phones [to take pictures], bothering him - including police,” Cogen said.

People in Maryland are being called and told to pay a fine over the phone for missing jury duty. It's a scam. The Maryland Judiciary on Friday issued a warning about calls that have surfaced in Prince George's County, where someone claiming to work for a circuit court has called residents saying they have been charged with contempt for not reporting to jury duty. The caller refers to a judge by name and demands payment of a fine over the phone using a pre-paid credit card.

As a Baltimore resident in good standing with no criminal record, I've dutifully shown up for jury duty year after year. It's not something I'm longing to do - I have no burning desire to stand in judgment of someone accused of wrongdoing. But someone has to do it. I show up ready to do my duty under our law. Why not? We've got the best justice system in the world, right? I've never been chosen to serve on a jury, though. I don't know what it is; maybe I look like the type of person who wouldn't "understand" the defendant.

Called for jury duty for the third time that he can remember, Dario Broccolino doesn't know why he wasn't picked Thursday to hear a personal injury complaint stemming from an automobile accident. Maybe because he's the top prosecutor for Howard County? "I have no idea which side didn't want me on the jury," Broccolino said. "There's a million different reasons why you want someone on a jury or don't want them on a jury, what perceptions or preconceived ideas you have." Broccolino walked into the courtroom of Circuit Judge Timothy McCrone — his predecessor and former boss — not as Howard County state's attorney but as a citizen called to meet a civic obligation.

They picked me for a jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore, Judge John Carroll Byrnes presiding. It was an attempted murder case: A young fellow named Bradley, also known as Doo Wop, allegedly stabbed another young fellow named Massey in a drunken fight over a woman named Jones, supposedly the "baby mother" of the defendant. This happened early on Friday, March 26 last year, on East 34th Street near Ellerslie Avenue in northeast Baltimore. Only one witness to the incident testified during the trial, and that was Mr. Massey, the victim.

In the courtroom where Baltimore Circuit Judge Timothy J. Doory metes out justice, he has a steadfast if silent companion, Maj. German H.H. Emory, a lawyer killed in World War I whose portrait hangs to the right of his bench. "He's looking at me every day," Doory said, "so we have a relationship. " But it wasn't until this summer that, by accident of jury duty, Emory's relations would come face to face with his portrait. The mix of happenstance and history so delighted Doory that he hosted a gathering in his courtroom Friday to toast Emory on the 95th anniversary of his battlefield death.

Federal courts are warning against juror scams that claim people missed jury duty and they must pay a $400 fine or be thrown in jail. The schemes mostly have appeared in New Mexico and other western states, but scams tend to travel. Marylanders should be on the lookout. According to federal courts, callers claiming to be court employees accuse people of failing to show up for jury duty and demand payment of a fine. They ask for sensitive information, such as Social Security and credit card numbers. The courts said they mostly communicate with people via U.S. mail, and they never ask for Social Security number or credit card numbers over the phone.

This is a report from juror No. 26. I was recently summoned to jury service for the first time in my life. While I have presided over 518 jury trials, this was my first time on the other side of the bench. They start early - 7:30 a.m. There is a lot of hurry up and wait. Those who are veterans understand clearly what that means. Exemptions: By law, there are a couple of ways off jury service. For example, if you are over 70, a member of the organized militia (the Maryland National Guard)

Nothing, besides the approach of a snowstorm or a rush-hour fender-bender on the Beltway, elicits more groans from Baltimoreans than the summons to jury duty, and I'm not sure why, except that we like to bellyache about stuff. When you think about it, we're not asked to do that much as citizens - separate trash from recyclables and set them on the curb, vote every couple of years, pay our taxes on time, sit on a jury once in a great while (more frequently if you live in the city)

I served jury duty in Baltimore City recently, an annual event and my civic duty. It's inconvenient and thankless but necessary to be sure that people get the fair treatment that they're guaranteed by the Constitution. But what about the jurors? Where's the fair treatment for them? There is little information provided about what's OK to bring in and what isn't, either on the juror web site or in the summons. Weapons are forbidden (well, duh) as are knitting needles. Crochet needles are on the list of banned items, but I wrote that off as a mistake made by someone who doesn't know that crochet requires the use of hooks that are, by definition, not pointy.

It was Jury Duty: Celebrity Edition in Baltimore Circuit Court on Tuesday. Both Michael Phelps and Duff Goldman had their numbers picked for the jury pool at the downtown courthouse. Phelps' presence created such a buzz that other prospective jurors and employees throughout the courthouse started streaming in to take his picture, according to Maj. Sam Cogen of the sheriff's office. “People were using their cell phones [to take pictures], bothering him - including police,” Cogen said.

Nothing, besides the approach of a snowstorm or a rush-hour fender-bender on the Beltway, elicits more groans from Baltimoreans than the summons to jury duty, and I'm not sure why, except that we like to bellyache about stuff. When you think about it, we're not asked to do that much as citizens - separate trash from recyclables and set them on the curb, vote every couple of years, pay our taxes on time, sit on a jury once in a great while (more frequently if you live in the city)

I served jury duty in Baltimore City recently, an annual event and my civic duty. It's inconvenient and thankless but necessary to be sure that people get the fair treatment that they're guaranteed by the Constitution. But what about the jurors? Where's the fair treatment for them? There is little information provided about what's OK to bring in and what isn't, either on the juror web site or in the summons. Weapons are forbidden (well, duh) as are knitting needles. Crochet needles are on the list of banned items, but I wrote that off as a mistake made by someone who doesn't know that crochet requires the use of hooks that are, by definition, not pointy.

In May, Time magazine made a splash featuring an attractive woman breastfeeding her three year-old on its cover. The accompanying article suggested that battles over parenting decisions, including how long to breastfeed a child, pit mothers against one another. A reality show featuring lurid skirmishes between "extreme parents" is now rumored to be in production. Truth is, the battle over breastmilk happens in much less extreme scenarios and in more insidious ways each and every day for women in this city.

There was a time when city residents only had to do jury duty every 18 months if they reported for duty and weren't selected for a trial. If they served on a jury they weren't called for another three years. Now residents are called for duty every year. My co-worker received a summons for late summer after having served last fall. When she called the courthouse she was informed there was a "new system" that did not include the dates of residents' previous service, so that many people were being called back within a year.